Definitive Turning Point of the Cold War

2008-02-07 16:33:02

#1

Ghandi767: Member; +17|6623|Hanging in the Balance

In your mind, what was the definitive turning point/victory point of the Cold War?

I have 2:

1. Chosin Reservoir: 1st Marine Division successfuly fights it way out against incredible odds, largely stops Chinese momentum in Korea.

2. Election of Ronald Reagan: Reagan, through his expansion of military, booming economy, and increased defense spending essentially turned the trend of recent Soviet victories around.

2008-02-07 16:33:36

#2

SgtSlutter: Banned; +550|6638|Amsterdam, NY

Start of the Afghan War tbh

2008-02-07 16:37:25

#3

Mekstizzle: WALKER; +3,611|6622|London, England

Invasion of US&A

---

I'd say Afghan War and how they couldn't compete with USA in the 80's.

2008-02-07 16:40:35

#4

CameronPoe: Member; +2,925|6556

Chernobyl - it bankrupted an already economically fragile USSR.

2008-02-07 16:43:51

#5

Varegg: Support fanatic :-); +2,206|6811|Nårvei

The Soviet heavy losses in Afghanistan, fighting a war they couldn't win although having superior tech - kinda like Nam and kinda like uh ... Iraq ?

Wait behind the line ..............................................................

2008-02-07 18:02:39

#6

RAIMIUS: You with the face!; +244|6715|US

The Reagan budget in combination with A-stan.

2008-02-07 18:22:57

#7

HudsonFalcon: Member; +20|5932|New York

For the Soviet Union I believe the Cold War itself was a self-defeating venture, billions and billions towards weapons when it couldn't feed its own people. Chernobyl, as Cam said, and the humiliating loss in Afghanistan as Varegg stated just brought a quicker end to a doctrine that was destined to failure from the beginning.

2008-02-07 18:30:47

#8

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6568|NYC / Hamburg

election of Regan, especially with the NATO Double-Track Decision forced the Soviets to spend way more on military than they could afford, bankrupting them

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2008-02-07 18:51:36

#9

topal63: . . .; +533|6719

When the then new CIA director William Casey, "Team B," Rumsfeld, etc produced and used a lie - the Terror Network - and presented it to Ronald Reagan as truth, it helped fictitiously re-established the USSR as a Nemesis; as the mythical force of evil in world that the US must oppose (or that communism was hell-bent upon the utter destruction of the US, the West and Democracy). Thus re-establishing the noble-belief in an enemy-threat; that the Cold War was alive and well... and that detente under Nixon & Kissinger was dead.

Then reality happened:
The USSR went financially belly-up, on their own accord.

Last edited by topal63 (2008-02-07 18:56:10)

2008-02-07 19:04:09

#10

Kmar: Truth is my Bitch; +5,695|6601|132 and Bush

Rocky IV.

or Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

That was a definitive turning point.

Xbone Stormsurgezz

2008-02-07 19:34:59

#11

topal63: . . .; +533|6719

Rocky IV... I actually liked that movie (still do). My favorite line in that movie, spoke of course, in a thick Russian accent "I must break you."

Then the ending... Rocky dons the diplomat hat and has an international love fest with the Soviet audience attending the match... "If I can change, you can change... everybody can change."

Last edited by topal63 (2008-02-07 19:35:41)

2008-02-08 03:48:21

#12

Jepeto87: Member; +38|6686|Dublin

The Soviet Union was a house built with rotten foundations and was always destined to collapse thought the above events all played a part to hasten it.

Id say the turning point was the election of Gorbachev as party chairman of the CCCP, as he started glasnost thus essentially ended the cold war and soon after the Soviet Union.

2008-02-08 03:49:12

#13

FEOS: Bellicose Yankee Air Pirate; +1,182|6412|'Murka

Reagan. No question. The arms race that started with his first administration made the Soviets spend more than their system could sustain.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
― Albert Einstein
Doing the popular thing is not always right. Doing the right thing is not always popular

2008-02-08 05:45:02

#14

ATG: Banned; +5,233|6530|Global Command

When the Russian tried to give people a LITTLE freedom.

2008-02-08 05:47:20

#15

djphetal: Go Ducks.; +346|6336|Oregon

wait... nobody's said chernobyl yet?
I think Reagan kinda "ended" it, but chernobyl was pretty monumental...

edit:
Ohhp. I was wrong. someone said chernobyl

Last edited by djphetal (2008-02-08 05:47:55)

2008-02-13 01:08:41

#16

nukchebi0: Пушкин, наше всё; +387|6325|New Haven, CT

Afghanistan. The Russians couldn't recover from their Vietnam like the U.S. did from theirs.

2008-02-13 02:17:10

#17

PureFodder: Member; +225|6286

The point when the Soviets had decided what their version of communism was going to be. Once that was decided it was pretty well over. It was just a case of watching the slow decline as the rest of the world developed faster and faster ahead of them.

2008-02-13 02:18:49

#18

RECONDO67: Member; +60|6637|miami FL

the turning point was the arms race that started in the 1970 and it collapsed the USSSR in 1989

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